DETROIT — On the second play of the fourth quarter, Bears backup quarterback Chase Daniel threw a quick pass to his right to wide receiver Anthony Miller, who stopped suddenly.
Miller threw a screen pass back to Daniel, who eluded one tackler before gaining eight yards and getting grabbed by Lions defensive end Romeo Okwara by the face mask.
“That was pretty cool,” Daniel said.
Still, it’s a play that might have looked even better with Mitch Trubisky involved. It was one of several plays in which Trubisky was missed in the Bears’ 23-16 victory Thursday against the Lions at Ford Field.
But, overall, coach Matt Nagy handled Trubisky’s absence particularly well on a short week and on the road against a division rival. Daniel was sacked four times and had only four yards on four carries, but he still completed 27 of 37 passes for 230 yards and two touchdowns.
It was the efficient performance the Bears were hoping they’d get from Daniel, a 10-year veteran who knows Nagy’s offense extremely well.
“I’m at a point where I’m starting to get into that rhythm with Mitch,” Nagy said. “I’m starting to understand and feel how he works. . . . There’s a little bit of change there [with Daniel]. But I felt very comfortable today calling plays with Chase.”
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Nagy called the Bears’ decision to sit Trubisky, who injured his right shoulder late against the Vikings on Sunday night, a “collaboration.” The process began with Trubisky being honest about how well he felt with Nagy, general manager Ryan Pace and the team’s medical staff.
“We feel right now it’s a day-to-day thing with him,” Nagy said. “And he’s just got to continue to keep staying in there with those trainers and keep doing whatever he needs to do to get ready as soon as he can.”
If anything, Daniel’s strong performance will help Nagy and Pace stick to their cautious approach when it comes to injuries and key players. But telling Trubisky, who was pushing to play, that he wasn’t going to had its challenges.
“It was really hard for him when he decided — and we knew — that [playing] wasn’t the right thing,” Nagy said. “When we said, ‘Hey, listen, this is the route we’re going to go,’ he was bummed out because he really wants to [play]. But we have to be smart with him, and he has to understand that. Once he got past that part, then he was good.”
